Show Low...it's the name of a town

As our last stop out west, we drove up to Show Low to visit with Bahka & Boppa Birdno; Anne, Carlos & Corina; Landon; and Amie & Jeremy. We did some tree-cutting, bike-riding, go-cart-riding, quad-riding...and some grandpa-riding (a la Nano). Oh yeah, and we went swimming at Fools' Hollow lake, where I strategically misplaced our cell phone in ~6 feet of water.

We love you Phoenix

Maybe I should clarify...we love to see OUR FAMILIES in Phoenix. And we are ever grateful for the advent of swimming pool, air conditioning and water parks...where we spent most of our time while we were there. We had a great time with the Poulsen's (Christie, John, Darren, Brynnli, Sierra, & Bryson), Amy, Grandma Hansen, Amie, Jeremy, Landon and Grandparents Birdno. The kids especially enjoyed being with their cousins.

In Utah with the Cami's family

Cami's dad recently auditioned for and made it into the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Hooray for Grandpa Hansen! This means her parents had to uproot and move on up to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Cami & the kids headed out to Utah several days before I flew into Phoenix, and were able to spend time with her family. Somehow, she managed to survive the late evening flight to Vegas, a layover in Vegas, and the short flight up to SLC. You can see the photo of her trekking the kids through the SLC airport with Nano & Josh both sleeping in the stroller. I don't know how she does it...

Chillin' in Cleveland with the Yonkers

I had a conference in Cleveland and thanks to the graciousness of the Yonkers (a family that Cami met on her mission in Seattle) the whole family was able to trek up to Cleveland with me. They had a great time touring Cleveland while I tried to stay awake during hours upon hours of research presentations...including my own.

Oh yeah, and I mean "chillin" literally as well as figuratively. It was so nice to get away from the humid stickiness of summer in NC for a few days.

Visit to Kirtland

While we were in Cleveland, we had the opportunity to take Jose and her Yonker friend to tour Kirtland. It felt very special to be in so many rooms where revelations in the Doctrine & Covenants were received. With time in the School of the Prophets above the Newel K. Whitney store as the highlight of the tour.

Kids showing off their hats and camera skills

We got a couple of free hats from a Durham Bulls game we attended courtesy of the Kellers. The kids threw them on the next morning and had a ball running up and down the hall. And of course, Josh & Mikayla just "had" to try out their photography skills with a few snapshots as well.

Durham Life & Science Center

Cami and the kids hadn't been to the Life & Science Center here in Durham for a long time...mostly due to Mikayla being in school, piano lessons, the grueling demands of 3 kids ages 6 and under, etc., etc. Cami stole the opportunity to whisk them away for a good afternoon at the "old" stomping grounds.

Picking strawberries

We headed out to Lyon Farms to pick some strawberries. Of couse, "some," is a gross understatement. We hauled home thirty-something pounds of the red beauties. Not only that, but Cami went back for more a couple of weeks later. Let's just say that strawberries (or strawr-berries as 'Licious calls them) are very popular around our house.

A couple of days after the picking party, we made stawberry liquadas (shakes) for our home evening treat. The kids all loved chipping in.

Nano jumping off of stuff

As many of you know, one of Nano's favorite pastimes is climbing onto things and then jumping off. Here are a few shots of him either climbing up or taking the plunge. And we have another one of him sleeping in bed with Mikayla. Apparently he decided her bunkbed was more cushy than his bed.

Having fun around the house

Here are some pictures of the kids being kids around the house. We did slide in a couple pictures from another camping trip to Falls Lake.

A couple of great missionaries

Here are a couple of shots with Elder Nelson and Elder De Korte. They infused our ward with the much needed motivation and faith to get us up and going again.

The annual pilgrimage to Emerald Isle

We can't wait for May to come around every year so we have another great excuse to go to a beach house. What's the excuse?? I don't know, maybe that school's out or that we did it last May!